Mary Ellen

We've brought on board our offerings to the Goddess of Chocolate a number of times. Never has anyone from HAL even raised an eyebrow.

With the new 10 year visa for American citizens, this sentence is obsolete, but may be true for holders of other passports. The Europeans on our recent cruise had visas valid for only a few months.

I'd suggest anyone with concerns about when to apply for their visa to check with a visa service. They deal with them day in and day out.

Earlier this year, our cruise boarded in HK going to China and Japan. During check-in our passports were collected. Prior to our first Chinese port, Shanghai, those of us who were overnighting ashore at some point in China received our passports back, along with a photocopy that had a barcode sticker. As we stayed in a hotel overnight in Beijing, passports are required to check-in, we had our passports the entire time in China. I'm not sure if those not overnighting ashore got their passports returned then, but they did get the barcoded photocopy. This barcode on the photocopy is what the Chinese officials scanned each time we went on/off the ship, not the actual passport. You don't want to lose that photocopy - as one of our friends found out. ;)

When entering Japan at the first port you'll need your passport for a 'face to passport' Immigration procedure. We've also had to do this at our last Japanese port before sailing to another country as they will collect the 'entry card' received when entering. I don't recall passports being needed at any Japanese ports in between.

We flew into HKG. Passports were needed for Immigration there and to check-in to hotels. I don't recall being told that we were to keep them on us at all times.

This (locked) thread has some responses from a very knowledgable source, chengkp75, as to why walkie-talkies aren't a good idea. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2023463

But we went to the library and got them printed.

Glad my suggestion worked for you. Bon Voyage!

We've also had to show documents to port security prior to being allowed in a cruise terminal. My suggestion is to go to your local library. Odds are that you can use a computer and printer there.

That would make sense IF eZAir allowed one to select any flight. However, they ONLY show flights that ARE available in their inventory. ;) The available flights change with the inventory. This is just like doing an air deviation of old. You pick your flights and the price for those flights is clearly shown.

If what has been claimed here were true, there would be 100s of posts claiming 'bait and switch'. The posts I've seen complaining about poor flight arrangements are from those who didn't select their own flights in the first place. They just left it up to the cruise line.

MSC is not currently on our list of potential cruise lines and while it is nice that they will match other loyalty programmes, their perks don't do anything to tempt us to reconsider

Exactly. One of DH's M.D.s went on a MSC cruise last year. The multi-language announcements drove her crazy. This coming from someone who is poly-lingual, as is the rest of her household.

Oh no! This is stressful! I just signed up for direct flight from Las Vegas to London thru eZAir on a British Air flight. I went to the British Air site and selected seats. Are you telling me Princess could change the flight to connecting flights at the last minute? Do you think I'd be better off cancelling the eZAir and booking directly through the airline? The attractive part was thinking I had air fare arranged but didn't have to pay right now.

Eileen, from our experience we've always received exactly the routing we've reserved through eZAir.

We used China Highlights for both of cruises involving China. The first time we had a wonderful guide for our overnight in Beijing. Everything was excellent there and in Shanghai. The second time we had different guides but dealt with the same travel planner. Night and day experience. :eek:

That second guide for Beijing didn't get off to a great start when they were over an hour and a half late picking us up at the port. First excuse when I called - "they were stuck in traffic" and it would be another 15 minutes. I would have had an easier time with that if I wasn't looking at row after row of busses for the cruise line tours that somehow managed to get there on time. Calling again about half an hour later resulted in 'they are almost there'. :rolleyes: When they finally arrived at least 15-minutes later the excuse was that they had gotten lost. Oh, that's a confidence builder. Things didn't improve from there. I guess we should have been happy that the Shanghai guide that trip was only 30-45 minutes late picking us up the first day. He looked like he'd just rolled out of bed.

Based upon our second experience with China Highlights, we no longer recommend them.

Welcome. I'm guessing you missed the Requests for Tour Shares - PLEASE READ 'sticky' at the top of this forum. That will point you towards your Roll Call where you will find others sailing with you. Good luck there but at this late date most will already have their private tours lined up.

Personally, I wish they would just pay employees a decent fair wage, charge customers an appropriate fare, then not allow tipping, but I'm from Europe:)

I'm happy to do whatever works best for the crew. It makes NO difference to me if I pay the amount up front or on board. The net result to me is the same. I don't feel it is my place to dictate how the crew gets paid.

You also do not know the specifics of the agreements and requirements between the cruise lines, the manning agencies in other countries, and the tax offices of the national governments of the tipped crewmembers.

 

Many Asian countries require the cruise lines to send a percentage of the tipped crew's salary (not their tips) back to their home country - through the manning agent - for tax purposes.

If the gratuities become part of the fare, they also become part of the crew salary. That forces the cruise lines to send a much higher percentage of the crew earnings back to their government, who then takes a much deeper cut of those earnings.

In the process, the manning agent who is handling those funds, fiddles with the exchange rates and skims a nice percentage off for himself.

 

Depending on many factors, adding the gratuities to the fare can result in a net loss for the service staff.

I recall once staying in a four-star hotel in L.A. I was expecting to pay their usual rate, but, when making my reservation, I was told that my room would be 1/2 price during my stay as renovations were taking place. The discount was due to the fact that some of the usual amenities might not be available to guests at times due to construction. Noise was not an issue as my room was some distance from the work being done.

Exactly. Several years ago we flew to Japan first class. I knew that we were on a different 777 than originally scheduled only because there were extra rows in first (went from 2-3 to 5-6). Easy enough to tell anyway in such a small cabin. No big deal as far as we knew. Shortly after we arrived in Japan we received emails from the airline offering compensation because the older aircraft used on our flight didn't have all of the features available to us that the scheduled newer plane offered. We appreciated the airline doing something when they felt a substandard was provided - even if we didn't complain. The OP got a substandard cruise from HAL.

I'd be more worried about the number of people in the cabin, not suitcases. ;)

We regularly take cruises in the 21 to 30+ day range. Often covering a wide range of temperatures. Rio to Valparaiso, Chile via Antarctica comes to mind. We've taken 3 large checked bags and 2 carry-on size. No problems storing them in any cabin, on any of our ships. Don't worry. Enjoy Alaska, it's a beautiful cruise.

Thank you. It was easy peasy to bookmark the blog so I can check in whenever I wish.

Some years ago a number of us did a HAL inaugural cruise. We were going to blog a "Live from..." thread. However, there was WAY too much input here about how we should do this. :rolleyes: As one CC member on the cruise put it - "We're giving them a present and they're complaining about how it is wrapped!" Not surprisingly a fair number of us decided not to participate in the 'Live from...' threads on that cruise. Actually I'm not sure if the person who made that comment has done a 'Live from..' since. No doubt you have friends and family who don't frequent these parts and your blog works for them. I appreciate the time, effort, and cost involved in doing such a blog. I encourage you do whatever works for you. :)

Our TA has a group on board your cruise. We were tempted to go, but the timing didn't work out. I hope you have a wonderful cruise. Bon Voyage.

Dementia is another possible side effect. While it is temporary, the cruise ships have seen too many naked people wandering around because of this side effect. ;) I would only recommend those who KNOW they are susceptible to seasickness (and nothing else works) to talk to their Dr. about getting a prescription. It is a VERY powerful drug.

This is coming from someone who gets seasick VERY easily.

While the patch works for me (used in combination with ginger capsules anyway), it isn't for everyone. There can be some very problematic side effects and that is why I can't make a blanket statement to get the patch. There is not a 'one size fits all' remedy for seasickness. Sadly, it is trial and error for individuals to discover what works for them.

We used CVSC (China Visa Service Center) both times we've needed visas for China.

While apparently some have had luck filling out the visa application differently than the videos we've watched. However, we feel that we're paying the visa service for their experience and expertise. We're going to follow their advice and not risk delays or potential denial. I was surprised at how uneasy I felt the entire time our passports were gone. A friend didn't have her Chinese visa application paperwork 'just right'. It took extra time and money having to FedEx back and forth.

Your visa. Your vacation. Your call.

I am wondering if booking a true 14 nighter, for example, would be less likely to have a group onboard than a cruise sold as two 7-night segments.

I used to believe that. We once had a very large (at least several hundred) Japanese tour group on board a 14-day China/Japan cruise.

Several years before that I also remember reading here about problems with a Park West group of 'high rollers' who had the Crow's Nest reserved 24/7 for the art displays. Part of the cruise involved scenic cruising through the Dardanelles. The passengers who posted about that weren't too happy about being denied access to the Crow's Nest - particularly during that time. I don't recall the exact length of that cruise, but to that area they are usually around 2 weeks.

When I've needed similar info, I indeed searched for departure port. I simply searched for ships sailing a few days before I wanted to be there. My reasoning was that if the ship is going to sail from 'Port X' - it has to arrive there first. ;) Once I knew the cruise line and ship(s) it was easy enough to find the previous cruise.

I've been to HMC with a friend who mainly cruises Princess. She likes HMC's softer sand and was surprised that there weren't the flies that bothered her at Princess Cay.

As to 'another private island that could be better' - I prefer DCL's Castaway Cay to HMC. ;). At least the DCL Adult beach area and cabanas win in my experience.

As far as using shuttles supplied by the hotel, they have to also supply accessible transportation to you too. It is a law that they don't like to abide by but they have to. If they provide free transportation to other patrons they have to provide it for you too. If there is a charge for other patrons, then they can charge you too, but not more than they are charging others.

This advice only applies to US hotels that are covered by the ADA. At least one poster mentioned South American cruises.

We have a folding travel scooter that folds to the size of a suitcase. With that we haven't had any problems with either taxis or shuttles.

Also keep in mind that many people turn the signatures off because they can add an enormous amount of unnecessary clutter to a discussion. Before I turned signatures off I would sometimes see a one line response to a question, followed by an entire screen full of past and future cruises, often with large countdown clocks or drawings of the ships. Some even with very annoying animated icons. Now I don't see signatures at all, and my thread reading is a much nicer experience. If I want to see someone's signature, I can always click on their UserCP and pull it up. Otherwise, I only see what people are posting - and that is the only thing I am interested in.

What pushed me into turning off signatures was a very frequent poster who had 4 (pc) screens of "signature". Links to this and that. Links to backups of those pages. Links to the backup of those backups. Then there were large countdown clocks... I would hate to imagine how many screens that would be on my iPad. I agree it is SO much nicer to read posts without having to scroll past so much.

On the Mobile Passport website there are currently only 5 US airports where this is available. The last time we flew into the US was from YVR. We were able to use Global Entry there. Anyone relying in Mobile Passport would have been out of luck.

Deposits, no matter with whom you make your reservation, are reduced by 50% with the Explore4 promotion. Just like all the other features of the promotion are all the same either booking through HAL or a TA.